James 4

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James 4 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

Consider these questions…

Does the indwelling Holy Spirit war against itself? Would a believer filled with the Holy Spirit continually war against another believer who is also filled with the Holy Spirit?

Look, I’m not talking about minor disagreements. I’m talking about wars.

Wars are not small disagreements. They are built up over a long period of time. Initially, there may just be an irritation. It may begin as a tiny seed. But like a weed that’s not pulled, it forms a root system and begins to take over. Throughout our history, wars have been fought to gain territory, execute revenge, and discriminate against people we hate. Don’t get me wrong, there are wars to defend and execute justice as well. But that is not the kind of warfare what James is referring to in this chapter.

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? [2] You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask.

James 4:1-2

So I come back to my question. Would two people filled with the same Holy Spirit war against each other?

James doesn’t weigh in on who is right and who is wrong. Notice, he doesn’t take sides. His disgust comes from the fact that people claiming to be believers are filled with bitter, selfish attitudes. Yes, people claiming to follow Jesus. They spew hatred and cause all kinds of division. Worst of all, they aren’t yielding to the Spirit who longs to bring maturity and unity to the body! Have you known someone like this? Are you like this?

I had no idea how much drama I would walk into when I first decided to go into ministry. Gossip. Bullies. Lack of confrontation. Petty disagreements. Politics. Grudges. The list goes on and on.

Aren’t we all Christians? Aren’t we all filled with the same Spirit?

James refers to such people as adulteresses.

You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. [5] Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?

James 4:4-5 CSB

A true believer who is living in compromise knows it because the Spirit is jealous. Why wouldn’t they?

But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

James 4:6 HCSB

Ah, there it is. Wars begin when a selfish, immature “believer” embraces pride which blinds them to God and stunts their ability to receive conviction from the Holy Spirit.

“Pride demands that God bless me in light of my merits, whether real or imagined. But grace will not deal with me on the basis of anything in me, good or bad, but only on the basis of who God is.”

David Guzik

Humility postures people to receive God’s grace, receive the Spirit’s conviction, and CHANGE! No more games. No more wars. No more burdens. The most discouraging part of an individual who causes war and division in the church is that they never lay down their burdens! They just pick them up and carry them off to another church.